Anton Schneeberger

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Anton Schneeberger (* 1530 in Zurich ; † 1581 in Krakow ) was a Swiss medic and botanist . He was a student of Conrad Gessner and worked in Poland .

Life

Schneeberger came from a Zurich patrician family and was a student of Johannes Fries and Conrad Gessner in Zurich. He studied medicine in Basel and from 1553 in Krakow . In 1557 he went to Zurich and Geneva to study in Montpellier and Paris , where he received his doctorate in medicine in 1558. In 1559 he returned to Cracow, where he had his medical doctor recognized. He turned down an offer to become the court doctor of Prince Radziwiłł in Wilno and continued his studies in Königsberg . In 1561 in Kraków he married the daughter Katharine of the late royal personal physician and humanist Johann Antonin (1499 to around 1549). As a dowry, his wife brought a house in Krakow into the marriage. After her death in 1569 he married the daughter Anna the pharmacist and councilor in Krakow Nikolaus Alantsee. Schneeberger was initially a Calvinist in Cracow with lively contacts to other Calvinists in Cracow, but later converted to Catholicism. He is buried in the Church of the Virgin Mary in Krakow.

His friends in Cracow included the humanists Johann Gregor Macer and Stanislaw Grzebski (1524–1570), the doctor Martin Foks (Foxius) and the clergyman and Copernicus follower Silvester Roguski.

His son Anton Schneeberger was also a doctor in Krakow. He studied in Padua but died relatively young.

plant

Schneeberger published some medical works, first a book on drugs against the plague and later a book on hygiene in soldiers (similar works did not appear in Europe until the 18th century). Among other things, he recommended wrapping feet with paper to prevent frostbite. In some of his works, however, he still represents superstitious ideas from today's perspective (e.g. he said an amethyst on the stomach would weaken the effect of wine). In a paper on gout, he advises moderate eating and drinking as a preventive measure and believes that the disease is caused by excess and idleness. As a therapy, he recommends putting the aching limbs in the stomach of a freshly slaughtered horse. He had an extensive medical library, the books of which were sold after the son's death.

He wrote the first scientific work on botany in Poland (1557). It was a plant catalog in Latin and Polish based on a similar catalog by Gesner. In addition to the names of 432 plants (162 from abroad, the rest Polish wild plants) and their description, botanical terms are also given in Latin and Polish. As a student in Cracow, he compiled the list with the help of Polish friends and an old countrywoman. The book had no illustrations. At that time, however, other works were popular in Poland, such as the health garden (Hortus sanitatis, several editions from 1534), which still reflected medieval ideas. The Herbarz Polski by Marcin (Martin) von Urzedow from 1595, which had many illustrations, was of a scientific level comparable to that of Schneeberger . It was from the 1540s or 1550s, but Urzedow (who died in 1573) apparently did not know Schneeberger's work. Another important botanical work is the Zielnik (Herbarium) by Szymon Syrenius (Syrenski) from 1613.

Fonts

literature

  • Boheslav Hryniewiecki: Anton Schneeberger (1530–1581), a student of Konrad Gesner in Poland, publications by the Geobotanical Institute Rübel in Zurich, issue 13, Bern: Verlag Hans Huber, digitized

References and comments

  1. Jump up ↑ The Reveries of Moritz von Sachsen 1775, John Pringle 1752, J. Colombier 1775
  2. ↑ Urzedow, born around 1502, gave lectures in Cracow, but before Schneeberger was there. In 1534 he received his medical doctorate in Padua and then lived in Sandomierz.
personal data
SURNAME Schneeberger, Anton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss botanist and doctor
DATE OF BIRTH 1530
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH 1581
Place of death Krakow